This is what happens to your body right after drinking Coca-Cola

It is no secret that sugary beverages are bad for you if you drink them regularly, but what happens immediately after drinking one?

The Renegade Pharmacist posted a handy chart to show exactly what happens in your body from the moment a Coca-Cola enters your mouth to the first hour afterwards.

Infographic: Renegade Pharmacist

Here is a break-down of exactly what the chart says:

10 minutes.

Ten teaspoons of sugar hits your system (100% of your daily recommended intake). You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavour, allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes.

Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat (there’s plenty of that at this particular moment).

45 Minutes.

Your body ups your dopamine production, stimulating pleasure centres in your brain. This is the same way heroin works, by the way.

60 Minutes.

The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium, and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

> 60 Minutes.

The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play (it makes you have to pee). It is now assured that you will evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium, and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

> 60 Minutes.

As the rave inside of you dies down, you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

The Renegade Pharmacist says that sodas are full of high fructose corn syrup, a type of sweetner that our bodies have trouble breaking down.

“Fructose is actually only metabolized by the liver and it’s very similar to ethanol (the alcohol in drinks). When you consume it, it’s actually like ethanol but without the high. It confuses the liver and ends up making lots of bad fats in the process. It also doesn’t signal your brain that you are full. This is why people can drink massive cups of fizzy drinks which are high in fructose and still eat huge meals containing refined foods that are also full of fructose,” states the article.

And while fruits also contain fructose, they have enough fibre in them to prevent absorption in any dangerous levels.

To replace fizzy drinks, the article recommends switching to green tea or plain water with a bit of lemon.